Day 1 of Yamanakako VBS!!!

Today was our first day of our VBS. We woke up early and ate breakfast as a team and prepared ourselves for the kids that were to come to the Koganei church. They slowly started to arrive and we greeted them with a warm welcome. At first however, the kids were very shy and they weren't communicating with us. They were more focused on either their family or their friends that they saw as they met at the Koganei church. But that was soon to change. As we all piled onto the bus, we said goodbye to all the parents and we were on our way to Mt. Yamanakako. We encountered some traffic, but that diminished as we got onto the freeway. At first we tried to communicate with the kids but they were still shy, but as soon as we got onto the freeway, we started to play games and we started to sing songs. This was the first true bonding experience for the mission team and the VBS kids. We had many laughs on the bus and the games were alot of fun. After the games we got to communicate with the kids some more. One kid in particular who stood out was very energetic. Her name was Ayaka and she was sitting at the back of the bus with myself, Sato, Yuuki, Jon, and Connor. She was very friendly and we had many great laughs. She gave Jon his new nickname which is "Towel-Man" because of his towel that he carried around his neck during the bus ride.

We made a quick rest stop and then we made our way to a beautiful garden and park. At the park we ate our lunches and we were able to play with the kids. What made this park so special was the miniature water attractions! (I dont really know what to call it though) We splashed each other until we were all soaking wet. Especially Yuuki who was dripping from head to toe. Literally. We had some time to dry off in the greenhouse which housed many beautiful plants, but with the heat in Japan and the greenhouse, it made the air even hotter so we quickly made our way out.

We hopped back on the bus and made our final approach to Mount Yamanakako. On our way we passed by Lake Yamanakako which reminded me so much of Lake Tahoe. It was gigantic, beautiful, and majestic; truly a sight to see. We arrived at the cabin that we were staying at which is named: Torchbearers. Yabana sensei said that they usually give a story about how it got the name Torchbearers , but we did not get to hear that this year so I am still wondering how it got its name. After we arrived, we got into our groups to prepare our skits to present to the camp. My group was all boys so as you can imagine, they were pretty rowdy but at the same time under control so they didnt tire us out. We then ate a delicious barbeque prepared for us by the Torchbearers staff who are all very nice people. After dinner we had a campfire as the mission team prepared games and songs for the campers to play and sing along to. We ended at 8 and we sent the kids to bed. So early i know! But they must get up at 6 in the morning! But so does the mission team and everyone else. Everyone is sleeping right now as I write this post, but now it is time to go to sleep. Goodnight and God Bless and thank you for your prayers!



~Justin Mao